The List of Social Media Issues

Your brain is under attack — here’s a list of social media issues.

Social media this and social media that. Social media has been around for quite a while now, but not all is well in this wired wonderland.

I keep this list of vari­ous social media issues for myself to stay on top of the biggest anti-social trends.

Here we go:

List of Social Media Issues

Social media isn’t just nyan cats and double rainbows. 

With massive change come new social media issues we must deal with.

Here are a few examples of social media issues:

Read also: The List of Social Media Issues

The Online Brain Hypothesis

In the rap­idly evolving digit­al age, how we pro­cess inform­a­tion is being trans­formed. The rise of the inter­net and its ever-chan­ging stream of inform­a­tion have led to a notice­able shift in our atten­tion­al capacities. 

“The Internet can alter our cog­ni­tion, affect­ing atten­tion, memory, and social cog­ni­tion, with poten­tial brain changes.”
Source: World Psychiatry ¹Firth, J., Torous, J., Stubbs, B., Firth, J., Steiner, G., Smith, L., Alvarez-Jimenez, M., Gleeson, J., Vancampfort, D., Armitage, C., & Sarris, J. (2019). The “online brain”: how the … Continue read­ing

A study pub­lished in the National Center for Biotechnology Information high­lights this trend, emphas­ising how the mul­ti­tude of online media sources vies for our atten­tion, often at the expense of our abil­ity to con­cen­trate for exten­ded peri­ods. ²Firth, J., Torous, J., Stubbs, B., Firth, J. A., Steiner, G. Z., Smith, L., Gleeson, J., Vancampfort, D., Armitage, C. J., & Sarris, J. (2019). The “online brain”: How the Internet may be … Continue read­ing

“The human brain’s atten­tion sys­tem has evolved over time, with genet­ic vari­ations and exper­i­ence play­ing a role in indi­vidu­al dif­fer­ences in atten­tion­al effi­ciency.”
Source: Annual review of neur­os­cience ³Petersen, S., & Posner, M. (2012). The atten­tion sys­tem of the human brain. Annual review of neur­os­cience, 35, 73 – 89. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​1​4​6​/​a​n​n​u​r​e​v​-​n​e​u​r​o​-​0​6​2​111 – 150525

This phe­nomen­on, some­times called the ‘online brain’, raises crit­ic­al ques­tions about the long-term effects of digit­al media on cog­nit­ive func­tions, includ­ing memory and focus. 

Brains and Narrowing Attention Spans

The broad­er implic­a­tions of our inter­ac­tion with digit­al media are fur­ther under­scored by a study in Nature Communications, which reveals a nar­row­ing of our col­lect­ive atten­tion span. ⁴Abundance of inform­a­tion nar­rows our col­lect­ive atten­tion span. (2019, April 15). ScienceDaily. https://​www​.sci​en​cedaily​.com/​r​e​l​e​a​s​e​s​/​2​0​1​9​/​0​4​/​1​9​0​4​1​5​0​8​1​9​5​9​.​htm

This phe­nomen­on is not just con­fined to social media; it’s a trend observed across vari­ous domains, sug­gest­ing a wide­spread cul­tur­al shift in how we con­sume and pro­cess information. 

The gradu­al decline in atten­tion spans, par­tic­u­larly over the last few dec­ades, sig­nals a press­ing chal­lenge for today’s organ­isa­tions. Research by Gloria Mark, PhD, from the University of California Irvine, sheds light on how our engage­ments with the inter­net and digit­al devices reshape our focus. ⁵Mark, G. (2023). Why our atten­tion spans are shrink­ing. American Psychological Association. https://​www​.apa​.org/​n​e​w​s​/​p​o​d​c​a​s​t​s​/​s​p​e​a​k​i​n​g​-​o​f​-​p​s​y​c​h​o​l​o​g​y​/​a​t​t​e​n​t​i​o​n​-​s​p​ans

The study’s find­ings are a wake-up call to busi­nesses and con­tent cre­at­ors, indic­at­ing that cap­tur­ing and main­tain­ing an audi­ence’s atten­tion is becom­ing more challenging. 

Despite the grow­ing con­cern over the impact of social media and the fast-paced news cycle on our atten­tion spans, a gap in empir­ic­al data per­sists. This lack of con­crete evid­ence points to the neces­sity for more rig­or­ous research to under­stand the true extent of mass medi­a’s influ­ence on cog­nit­ive func­tions. ⁶Abundance of inform­a­tion nar­rows our col­lect­ive atten­tion span. (2019, April 15). EurekAlert! https://​www​.eurekalert​.org/​n​e​w​s​-​r​e​l​e​a​s​e​s​/​4​9​0​177

Learn more: The Online Brain Hypothesis

Your Brain, Your Responsibility

I don’t know how much you or I can influ­ence any of the above. But I know that you con­trol where you decide to dir­ect your attention.

Social media this and social media that, yes.
But remem­ber:

Social media is every­one’s respons­ib­il­ity.
Your brain, when using social media, is your responsibility.

THANKS FOR READING.
Need PR help? Hire me here.

Spin Academy | Online PR Courses

Spin’s PR School: Free Social Media PR Course

Discover this free Social Media PR Course and mas­ter the art of digit­al pub­lic rela­tions on social net­works and plat­forms. Explore now for valu­able insights!

Social Media Mechanics

• Social Media — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• How Social Media Algorithms Rule Our Lives
• The Silent Switch
• Why Subscriber Counts Matters Less (to be published)
• Why Social Media Algorithms Are Basic (to be published)
• Dark Social: The Online Interaction We Can’t See

Social Media Psychology

• Social Media Naturals
• The Narcissistic Principle
• The Selfie Generation
• Emotional Maturity and Social Media (to be published)
• Attention Spans in the Social Media Age

Social Media Management

• The Follower Contract
• A Community Manager’s Job Description
• No Brand Community for You
• Critical Mass: How Many Social Media Followers Do You Need?

Social Media Issues

• The List of Social Media Issues
• How Ghost Followers Destroy Your Social Accounts
• Social Media Myths in PR
• Facebook Zero: Your First Fix Was Free

Learn more: All Free PR Courses

💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get bet­ter PR.